KHCB Questions & Answers – Feb 15 2024

Announcer: [00:00:12] Good evening. Time is now 9:30 Central Time. It’s now time for the Question and Answers program, a weekly program that you can call with your questions about the Bible Christian way of life and our Pastors will answer that question for you. Live on the air. Tonight’s pastors are Doctor Andy Woods. He’s the Senior Pastor at Sugar Land Bible Church. He’s also president of the Chaffer Theological Seminary. Pastor Woods has authored many Christian books and theological journals, and speaks on a variety of topics at Christian conferences and churches. Tonight he’s joined by Doctor Jim McGowan, Associate Pastor at The Sugar Land Bible Church. The church is located at 401 Matlage Way in Sugar Land, Texas. Their website is SLBC.org. You can also reach out to them at Andy Woods Ministries.org, and you can find his YouTube (Pastor’s Point of View) and Rumble (Pastor’s Point of View). I’d like to invite you to call us at 832-922-4444. That’s 832-922-4444. You can reach us toll free at 877-999-5422. That’s 877-999-5422. We respectfully ask you to avoid mentioning specific people, denominations, or churches. If your question is about a certain passage of Scripture. Please have the scripture reference ready. And now to get us started, here are our pastors, Doctor Andy Woods and Doctor Jim McGowan.

Pastor Jim: [00:02:36] Well, welcome listening friends, and thank you so very much for tuning in this evening. We have some very exciting and good news for you this evening, and that is that God is going to do something wonderful just for you during the next hour. We know that’s true because we will be looking for our answers not from man, but from God’s holy Word, the Bible, the only inspired, authoritative revelation of everlasting truth. And we know that God’s holy Word, properly interpreted, provides every answer we need for all things that pertain to life and godliness. So expect God to speak to you this evening and be sure to praise him for the answers he reveals. All right, just before we go to the phones, let me remind you one more time, if I could, to remember, please keep your on air time to one question only. Also, please remember that we need you to turn your volume down on your listening device before you are brought on the air. That prevents back, you know, back feed or feedback rather helps us. And it makes it makes the radio a lot clearer for folks. So please remember to turn the volume down. And then once you’ve given us your question, if you just go ahead and hang up to listen for the answer, that would be fabulous. So we do appreciate that. And with that said, let’s go to our email box. Pastor, we have a great email here coming uh, from an individual named Scott. And he asked this question, “can you please explain what is lordship salvation and how is it different than being saved by grace”?

Pastor Andy: [00:04:22] All right. Well, what a great question that is. Um, this is sort of a controversy that started in the body of Christ. I would trace it back to the 1980s when preachers started to introduce, on a popular level, you know, this idea of lordship salvation. Lordship salvation is not a debate about whether Jesus is Lord. That’s the first thing to understand. Uh, lordship salvation really is a discussion about what is necessary for the lost sinner to be justified before a holy God.  Is the lost sinner justified by faith alone receiving salvation as a free gift, or is the lost sinner justified by either doing or being willing to surrender every area of their life at the at that point, um, uh, to the Lordship of Christ? So it’s lordship salvation kind of teaches what I call cops, uh, salvation, salvation based on commitment, obedience, perseverance, service. And if you’re not willing to do those instantaneously or you’re not doing those instantaneously on the front end, then you’re not a Christian.  If Jesus is not, as the saying goes, Lord of all, then he is not Lord at all. That’s the doctrine of lordship salvation. And I’m here to tell folks that, look, nobody is justified before God by submitting to his lordship.  And the reason I know that is because of Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 and 22 and 23.

Pastor Andy: [00:06:07] Jesus says, “not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name did we not cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? And I will declare to them plainly, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, you who practice lawlessness”. So these are people on the day of judgment, claiming we submitted to your lordship.  So what is the problem with lordship salvation? Uh, seven quick problems. Number one, it changes the Gospel. Um, uh, the Gospel, the good news of Christ is we receive as a free gift by faith what he did for us.  The Gospel is about what he did for us and not what we do for him. And it takes that message and turns it into a Gospel of works. And just, you can recognize a false Gospel just by looking at where it puts the spotlight. Does this put the spotlight on Jesus and His finished work? That’s the true Gospel. Or the performance of man to get it. That’s a false Gospel. Number two, lordship salvation places an impossible burden on the unsaved, the lost man who’s dead in his trespasses and sins without the Holy Spirit inside of him. Has no ability whatsoever to submit to Christ’s lordship. In fact, I think it was Newell who said, if you preach justification through lordship, the only thing you’re doing is you’re taking sinners and you’re turning them into hateful Pharisees. Number three lordship salvation ignores the reality of a carnal Christian, which Paul clearly says is a sad possibility. In first Corinthians 3:1 through 3, there is no such thing in lordship salvation, or they minimize the doctrine. You know, for the simple reason that if you have to submit to the authority of Christ in lordship to get saved, then how could you ever have a disobedient Christian, or a carnal Christian, or a backslidden Christian? So it leads to this really, um, judgmental spirit of fruit inspecting other believers, saying, well, sister, so and so missed choir practice last Wednesday, they must not have submitted to Christ’s lordship. They must not really be saved. It leads to that sort of spirit. Number four lordship salvation confuses justification and sanctification.  Two different things justification, birth, sanctification, growth, uh, growth, two different things. And just because someone isn’t growing right doesn’t mean they hadn’t been born.

Pastor Andy: [00:08:55] And when you look at 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 15, it tells you exactly where to put lordship concepts. It says in 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 15, I mean, notice the language very carefully. It says, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you for the hope that lies within you, but do so with gentleness and respect. So lordship relates to sanctification. Submitting to Christ’s lordship relates to your growth in Christ, not your birth in Christ. Lordship Salvation confuses that. Number five lordship salvation destroys the assurance of salvation. We really have an epidemic of people in the body of Christ who are saved but don’t know they’re saved because how do you know if you’ve submitted enough to get saved? It’s kind of a subjective category. I mean, what if I had a sinful week, or a sinful past, or a sinful thought? Maybe I didn’t really submit to Christ’s lordship on the front end. So maybe I’m not really a Christian, and it takes away something that God has for every believer, which is their birthright the assurance of salvation. Jesus in John 5, verse 24, John 6, verse 47, 1st John 5, verse 13 guarantees to every believer at the point of faith alone, in Christ alone the assurance of salvation.

Pastor Andy: [00:10:27] Lordship. Salvation takes that away. Number six, lordship salvation confuses the root of salvation with the fruit of salvation. You know, submission to Christ’s lordship is the fruit of being born again. But it’s not the root.  And lordship confuses that. And then finally, number seven, lordship salvation leads to a terrible pride in people, because there’s a real tendency to look down on other Christians that are struggling. Oh, they must not be, uh, have submitted to Christ’s lordship like I have.  Uh, they say to themselves, so, you know, for all of these reasons, I think this lordship salvation idea is a terrible doctrine. It misleads people. And, Brother Jim, I’ll go out on a limb and I’ll say this more people will probably end up in hell because of the doctrine of lordship salvation than any other false doctrine I can think of that’s currently percolating in the body of Christ. Now, those strong words I understand. But this is a question and answer show. And tonight I’m the guy. We’re the people fielding the questions. So that’s my honest assessment.  It is just a perverse doctrine and why more people don’t recognize it as work salvation. I don’t fully understand.

Pastor Jim: [00:11:47] Well, I think it appeals to the flesh on some level, is really the answer to that question. Well, that’s a great way to kick off the program. And I see we have a caller waiting. So let’s go to the phones. Thank you for your patience and thank you for calling the program. What’s your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:12:03] Yes. My question. Can you hear me?

Pastor Jim: [00:12:05] Yes, I can hear you.

Caller: [00:12:07] Okay. My question is I’m reading from a Genesis. Chapter 3 verse 14. You’re going to say about the one with the woman had done then. Then they’re going to say that. Then the Lord said to the snake, to the snake, because you have done this, you will behave and will suffer more than all cows and more than every animal. The field you will go on your stomach and you will eat dust all the days of your life. Right? Right there where it says stomach. Do the devil have arms and legs? That’s what I want to know.

Pastor Jim: [00:12:46] All right. That’s an excellent question. Hey, thanks for calling the program. All right, pastor.

Pastor Andy: [00:12:51] Well, my understanding is Satan is a fallen angel. He’s calling. He’s called that in Ezekiel 28 verses 12 through 17. He’s a created being. He’s a originally was a guardian cherub, which is an angelic being. So, you know, the primary domain of angels is heaven. So I see Satan as primarily celestial.  However, we know that Satan can possess people, uh, like he stepped in to possess Judas. I think it’s in John 13 verse 27. It says, Satan entered him. And I’m of the persuasion that that’s what Satan did with the serpent.  He actually went inside of him and controlled him. I’m trying to get Adam and Eve instead of ruling over creation, which was their job.  Genesis 1:26 to 28 to listen to creation and rebel against God. So that’s why he entered this serpent. And, um, God in his providence, punished, uh, the serpent, the crawling on the belly is humiliation. The serpent would forever crawl on his belly as a sign of the humiliation God did to Satan. Um, in sending Jesus Christ, you know, ultimately to take the things of Satan and defeat them.

Pastor Andy: [00:14:15]  The crawling on the belly. You can cross reference that with Micah 7, verse 17. You’ll see it. It’s, uh, it’s a sign there of, uh, humiliation. And the fact that the serpent’s body is altered to me is done by God to show that sin didn’t just have a spiritual consequence, it didn’t just damage our vertical relationship to God. It damaged our cosmos, the physical world that we’re in. In fact, a few verses later, verses 17 through 19, it talks about how the ground. God says, you rebel against me, okay? The ground is going to rebel against you, and you’re going to have a difficult time eking out a living. Paul in Romans 8, uh, at the end of Romans 8, uh, well, really around verses 20 through 23 talks about how our whole world is in a state of travail. It’s in a state of groaning because of original sin. So, um, that’s what I think happened. And it required a physical demonstration. And that’s why Satan, um, actually entered this serpent at this time in history.

Pastor Jim: [00:15:20] Yeah. Amen. All right. Thank you for that call. We certainly appreciate that. And I see we still have lines available. So we encourage you to call the program while we’re waiting. Let’s go back to the mailbox. And Brother John writes in and he says, “does the Bible provide guidance for us when we want to pray on behalf of someone who doesn’t desire prayer for himself”?

Pastor Andy: [00:15:45] Well, as I understand the Bible, um, Jesus in John 16 verses 7 through 11 says the spirit. Comes to, uh, in essence, convict the world. Convict means to persuade, of sin, righteousness and judgment. And he defines sin. By the way, the Greek noun there for sin is singular hamartia sin because they do not believe in me. Um and um judgment, because the prince of this world is about to be cast out. Sin, righteousness and judgment. Righteousness. Because I go back to the father, and I understand those verses as saying, The Holy Spirit is in the whole world right now, convicting people of the only sin that will send them to hell. Unbelief.  And the fact that they don’t have the transferred righteousness of Christ. If you don’t have that, you got to stand in your own self-righteousness, which isn’t going to get you very far. And if you’re without Christ, you’re aligned with the prince of this world who’s already been cast out. You know the devil himself. You’re going down. And so that’s what the Spirit of God is doing in the lives of unsaved people. And I don’t see a point where it says this ministry no longer applies if the person doesn’t want it.  Or once the person reaches a certain age, or maybe when they begin to die, the Holy Spirit stops doing this. I think the Holy Spirit does this constantly this side of the grave.  So if that’s what God is doing, um, why would my prayer life be any different? I mean, I should be praying for everybody and anybody because they’re being convicted around the clock, you know, by the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Jim: [00:17:27]  Yeah. I mean, isn’t it true, pastor? I mean really and truly every single one of us, if God hadn’t sought us. Uh, you know, Bible says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So if God hadn’t sought us, we would never have come to Christ. So it really doesn’t have a whole lot to do with whether we want someone to pray for us or not. Uh, my grandmother prayed for me for years and years and years, and I didn’t even know it. And I’m a product of her prayers and the prayers of my mother also. So praise the Lord. All right, let’s go back to the mailbox. Here. I have another question. This is from Brother Marvin, and he says, ask the question. “Does a falling away from the faith and the Antichrist have to be revealed before the church can be raptured? And he references 2nd Thessalonians 2:3”.

Pastor Andy: [00:18:20] All right. Well, that’s, um, something that I’ve worked on a lot. I have a little booklet that you can find on Amazon called “The Falling Away”. Um, I also have a series that I’m doing at my local church on Second Thessalonians where we spent nine lessons. Uh, if you can believe that, you can find those at Sugar Land Bible Church under the Second Thessalonians sermon series dealing with this particular verse. Yes, but Paul says, let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first. Notice it says “the apostasy”. Apostasy just means falling away. And so he’s obviously not referring to some kind of generic idea. He’s referring to something specific that he had already taught them about, which would be the rapture of the church, 1st Thessalonians 4 verses 13 through 18. And it’s interesting, this noun apostasy translated falling away in the Liddell, Liddell and Scott lexicon has as one of its meanings a physical removal or a physical departure. The noun is only used one other time in the New Testament over in acts 21:21. And there it means something spiritual, spiritual, falling away. But so we have to look at the verb. Um. By the way, that’s a totally different context over there in acts 21:21, the verb form, because, you know, words come from the same root, noun form, verb form – 80% of the time the verb means something physical. Paul, when he was talking about his thorn in the flesh, prayed that it would depart from him.

Pastor Andy: [00:20:11] And that’s something physical.  So since the noun here can go either direction, uh, a doctrinal falling away, falling away from the Word, or it can refer to falling away from the world. Um, the context controls what meaning we’re going to deal with. And I think because of the definite article referring to something he had previously taught and the general context of this passage, it’s talking about a departure not from the Word, but from the world. And it fits the context nicely because he mentions the Rapture right there in verse 1, just a verse or two earlier he says, concerning our gathering together to him, that’s the rapture.  And if you look down at verses 6 and 7, it talks about the departure of the restrainer, which I take as another example of the of the rapture. So, um, you know, the thing to understand about ancient languages is words really many times don’t have a technical meaning. They don’t mean the same thing every time they’re used. So you have to analyze the word based on its context. And since the word can mean either departure from the world or departure from the Word, I think the departure here is talking about the departure from the world. In other words, this is a synonym. Different words, same meaning for the Rapture. So if that’s true, all he’s saying is the Rapture must happen because they were all shaken up.

Pastor Andy: [00:21:45] Verse two, thinking they were in the day of the Lord.  Because they had received a forgery allegedly coming from Paul, indicating that they were in the day of the Lord. And Paul’s point is, you’re not in the day of the Lord or the Tribulation Period because the departure, i.e. the Rapture, you know, hasn’t happened first. And so if that’s the right meaning, this is not talking about the, uh, doctrinal, some kind of doctrinal departure before the Antichrist shows up. This is talking about the physical departure of the church before the Antichrist shows up as a synonym for the rapture. And it’s interesting, as you look at, uh, English translations pre-King James, because most of our English translations today are kind of drawing from the King James. But if you go back to pre-King James, um, you’ll see that they put into the text the word departure. So they gave a meaning at least anyway, of something physical rather than something spiritual. So that’s a lot to talk about isn’t it? I would encourage people to get my little booklet on this subject. But all things being said, this verse is not talking about some kind of doctrinal departure of the church before the Antichrist shows up. It’s just saying the church will be physically removed before the Antichrist shows up.

Pastor Jim: [00:23:05] Amen. So two things I heard you say there and correct me if I’m wrong. Number one, we want to be careful because this word apostasy is not a technical word, meaning it doesn’t mean the same thing in every context. That’s very important. But also you alluded to this, uh, it seems to me that we can’t interpret 2nd Thessalonians without bringing to bear 1st Thessalonians. So we have to start with 1st Thessalonians to get our overall our larger context, and then bring 2nd Thessalonians in. Am I basically correct?

Pastor Andy: [00:23:39] Yes, and particularly when you look at verse 5, do you not remember while I was telling you these things? So he’s alluding back to teachings he had already given them?

Pastor Jim: [00:23:50] Exactly. Yes.

Pastor Andy: [00:23:51] In the prior letter, and also when he was with them a short time earlier on his, uh, what would it have been? His second missionary journey in Thessalonica. And you can read about that in Acts 17 and 18, before he was driven out of Thessalonica, down south, into Corinth. Remember, the two Thessalonian books are written almost back to back. 8051 second missionary journey written from Corinth. And so, um, if you’re trying to interpret this book second, this independent of 1st Thessalonians, you’re making a mistake, you’re going to make errors.

Pastor Jim: [00:24:31] Amen. All right. That’s a great answer, pastor. Thank you so much for that. Well, let me take a moment, if I could, to give out our phone numbers again. If you’re in the local Houston area, you can call 832-922-4444 again, 832-922- 4444. If you’re outside the local Houston area, you can call toll free at 877-999-5422. That’s 877-999-5422. And if you would prefer to email your question to the station, you can do that and it will be given to us. Just send it to questions. That’s plural Questions@KHCB.org. And I see we have a caller waiting. So let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for calling the program. What is your question this evening. Hello?

Caller: [00:25:36] Hi. Good evening. Yes. Hey, I just I have a quick question. I forgot the verse, but I think it’s 1st Corinthians 3. Uh, 13, if I’m not mistaken, where it talks about the Bema Seat of Christ.  And I think, if I’m not mistaken and Revelation 20 or I forget what verse it talks about another judgment where it’s the, the White Throne or the White Throne judgment if I’m not mistaken. He will give it a little bit. Uh, what’s the difference between these two? Are the believers are going to go to these two judgments, or how does that work in terms of afterlife in our works?

Pastor Jim: [00:26:12] Okay, that is such a great question. Thank you for calling the program. And we’re going to give you a good Bible answer here.

Pastor Andy: [00:26:18] All right. That’s a wonderful question because a lot of people just merge all the judgments together. But if you interpret the Bible literally, it’s impossible to harmonize all the judgments. The Bema Seat takes place in heaven. The Great White Throne judgment, you know, seems to take place after the heavens and the earth have been dissolved. The Bema Seat takes place after the Rapture. The Great White Throne judgment that he’s describing takes place after the Millennial Kingdom.  The Bema Seat is described in 1st Corinthians 3, verses 10 through 15, which he alluded to. The Great White Throne judgment is described in Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. The basis of the Bema Seat 1st Corinthians 3 is not to determine heaven or hell, because it talks there about a man whose works are put through a fire, but he himself is saved, as though escaping through the flames. So the Bema Seat is really there to evaluate our works, post Christ, post Christian life, and those things we did for his glory with proper motives under his power. They’re put through a fire. They’re tested by the fire. They’re shown to be gold, silver and costly stones. Uh, the opposite is wood, hay and stubble, which are combustible. They’re destroyed by the fire. But these works survived the fire.

Pastor Andy: [00:27:48] And whatever work, whatever is left after the fire finishes its work is part of some kind of reward that we receive above and beyond salvation.  So the Bema Seat is really a rewards issue. The Great White Throne judgment, by contrast, is, uh, while the Bema Seat is for the saved, the Great White Throne judgment is for the unsaved.  And the basis of the Great White Throne judgment is as people’s name is not found written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. In other words, they’ve never trusted Christ as their Savior and their earthly lives. Then they’re judged by the books. You’re not in the book, you’re judged by the books. And I think the books is a record of sins which do nothing but determine your degree of punishment forever in the lake of fire. So, uh, one is a rewards for the church in heaven, the others for the unsaved of all ages, where the determination is made, not only are they going to the lake of fire forever, but the degree of torment in the lake of Fire is determined. So one is a terrifying judgment. The latter one is will be more, much more a happy judgment, as many, many Christians will be rewarded unto God for faithful service.

Pastor Jim: [00:29:02] Yes, Amen. Great question and great answer. Thank you. I see we have one caller waiting, but we need to go to our station break, so if you’ll be patient, we’ll get back to you here shortly and we’ll have our prayer for the nation.

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Pastor Jim: [00:30:16] All right. Welcome back to KHCB’s Question and Answer program. It’s the top of the hour. And we’re going to pause for a few moments to pray for the nation. And we would encourage you to join with us at this time. Abba, father, we come before you this evening to thank you for the gift of our Republic and for the Constitution upon which it was formed and operates, and also to pray and offer up our petitions for our leaders, as you’ve instructed us in 1st Timothy 2:2, where you tell us to pray for all who are in authority, so that we might lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. We come asking that you might lead our leaders to humble themselves before you, and that you might guide them to an acknowledgment of the truth, that you are sovereign over your creation, and that this knowledge, properly understood, would guide all their decisions. We lift up our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government, and we lift up also our state and city officials. And we pray that they might make godly decisions and cooperate with your divine plan and will, not merely for themselves, but also for the citizens they serve. Please help them as they enforce and formulate new laws, make legal decisions and rulings, and please move on these men and women to motivate them and convict them to make wise and godly decisions for the good and betterment of all the people at each level of government, whether it be local, state, or federal.

Pastor Jim: [00:32:03] Please bring conviction upon them and remind them of their sworn duty to uphold the laws, the regulations, and the principles which they swore to defend. Abba, father, please also protect all of our first responders, law enforcement officers, firemen and women, EMTs, doctors and nurses, the men and women faithfully serving in our military, and all those who put their own lives in jeopardy to save and rescue others. Protect them, Lord, from hurt, harm, and danger and please return them safely to their families. Father, thank you for working within us, moment by moment to conform us into the image of our Lord Jesus. Please also help us to continue to mature in our attitudes and actions so that we might be pure salt and bright lights for those who are without hope, so that they too might see Jesus reflected in us and come to place their faith in Him who is their only hope and Savior of their souls. And finally, please help us to remember that this earth is not our home and we pray these things in the name of Jesus, Maranatha and Amen. Well, thank you so much for pausing with us and we do have a caller waiting. So thank you so much for your patience. Let’s go right back to the phones. What’s your question this evening?

Caller: [00:33:47] Okay, okay. Uh, Doctor Woods, Doctor McGowan. Uh, good to speak with you. Um, I’ve been following your, um, your 2nd Thessalonian series and, um, a couple of Sundays ago, and I’m not sure if I’m probably going to butcher this a little bit, but in your 2nd Thessalonian series in the Sunday school, you were talking, uh, on January 21st, but you were talking about, um, you know, the Holy Spirit being, um, you know, an actual, a man, an entity, you know, a real man, if I understood you correctly. Um, so. And then you were tying this into Genesis 6:3. Um, my spirit shall not strive with man forever, but, uh. Yes. Nevertheless, his days shall be 120 years. I’ve always thought that this was God’s plan. Man will not exceed 120 years in life from now on. But what I thought I heard you say was that the Holy Spirit would only be on the earth for another 120 years. Um, before the flood occurs. So I just wanted to see if you could clarify that.

Pastor Jim: [00:35:04] All right. Thanks for calling the program. We appreciate that. Pastor can we help him out?

Pastor Andy: [00:35:09] Well, I think that is one of the interpretations that man’s lifespan, you know, is going to be cut back, you know, to 120 years. But, you know, even that when you look at Psalm 90, man’s lifespan was cut back more than 120 years. I think it talks there about, you know, if you reach age 70 or age 80, you’re considered blessed. So that’s really not the view of Genesis 6:3 that I have. I take it very similar to John 16:7 through 11. What the Holy Spirit’s doing today, convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And I believe that the Holy Spirit was convicting in the same way, striving with that pre-flood, uh, civilization, trying to inculcate in them or lead them to repentance, which they rejected that ministry. And the Holy Spirit says, you know, um, I’m going to do this for a while, but I’m not going to do it forever. You know, my spirit will not strive with man forever.  You know, strive. Persuade will not strive with man forever. I’m going to do it for 120 years and then it’s over. Then the flood is going to come. So it’s kind of a sign of God’s patience with man. And they were involved in every kind of wickedness you can imagine. Every inclination of their hearts was perpetually evil.  So God was trying to get them to repent so judgment wouldn’t come. And this is what 2nd Peter 3 around verse 18 is talking about, where it says, God kept waiting patiently. Verse 18 and following verse 18 and following in 2nd Peter 3, in the, uh, he kept waiting patiently in the days of Noah. In fact, some Hebrew scholars suggest that the name Methuselah means when he dies, it will come. Meaning God conditioned the flood coming on the death of Methuselah, who happened to be the oldest living man in the Bible 969 years. So that would be another testament testimony to the patience of God in the days of Noah. So I think the spirit was striving with man during that time period as my understanding of that verse.

Pastor Jim: [00:37:19] Amen. All right. Well, we hope that was helpful for you. And I see we have no one waiting online. So, folks, if you want to call in the phone lines are free. Go ahead and give us a call. Let’s go back to our mailbox here. This is, uh, Brother Marvin’s call, uh, emailing rather in. And he says, “can a saved person return to vomit like a dog”? Now, that’s a nice picture.

Pastor Andy: [00:37:42] My answer to that is yes. Um, in fact, we have an example of it mentioned in the same chapter in the same book, 2nd Peter chapter 2, which talks about false teachers, you know, returning to their own vomit, um, like a dog returning to his vomit. We have an example of that in the person of Lot.  You know that we read about in the Abraham account, uh, Lot is called a righteous man in the book of 2nd Peter, chapter 2, verses 7 and 8, not once, not twice, but three times. He’s called a righteous man, and yet his lifestyle was not very righteous. He is the one that offered his daughters to the Sodomite crowd. He is the one in Genesis 19:30 through 38 that is drunk and involved in an incestuous relationship between with his two daughters, from which came the Moabites and the Ammonites, uh, perennial enemies of Israel. He is the one that pitched his tent towards Sodom. Genesis 13, verse 13. He is the one that arose to a position of prominence in Sodom, was sitting at the city gates. Genesis 19, verse 1. And he is the one that when he finally gets serious about the Lord, his own in-laws think he’s jesting.  So what do you do with a guy like this? Um, I wouldn’t even think he’s saved, uh, living like this. But 2^nd Peter calls him a righteous man.

Pastor Andy: [00:39:16] So he was righteous in the positional sense of the word. He was a believer, but he was what we would, in modern day vernacular call a carnal Christian, you know, or, um, a backslidden Christian. Um, and, uh, we know he was saved because the angel that came to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah said, I cannot do anything. Not I will not, I cannot do anything until you Lot are removed from this city. So that example alone is given in 2^nd Peter tells me that a Christian can, uh, certainly, you know, return to their own vomit. We have examples of a lot of back-slidden people in the Bible that we know were saved. Uh, Samson, Jeptha.  Although both of them are mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the Hall of Faith. So they must have been saved. Solomon. His life didn’t end well. Well, that’s right, yet he was saved. He wrote three Old Testament books. We’ve already talked tonight about 1st Corinthians 3, verse 15. How about Demas? 2nd Timothy 4, verse 10. Demas, having loved this world, has deserted me. I don’t know if Paul would have put Demas in the leadership team if, um, there was some kind of doubt about Demas’ salvation, correct?  The truth of the matter is an out of fellowship Christian can out sin an unbeliever, you know, almost any day of the week.

Pastor Jim: [00:40:44] Oh, that’s been true in my life, in the past.

Pastor Andy: [00:40:45] Paul says in 1st Corinthians 5 and verse 1, he says, it’s actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind that does not even exist amongst the Gentiles. Unsaved.  That someone has his father’s wife and he’s dealing here with saved people. So I’m not promoting backslidden Christianity at all. You pay a terrible price for doing that. I’m just acknowledging it’s a possibility. And I’m basing that from the word of God.

Pastor Jim: [00:41:16] All right. Great answer, Pastor. Thank you so much. I do see we have a caller waiting. So let’s go back to the phones. Thank you so much for your patience. What is your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:41:28] Yes. Thank you for, um, your willingness to answer. Um, I have a what appears to be a dichotomy, um, in the Word. And I don’t have the, uh, the Bible verses in front of me, but basically it’s about death and judgment. So, on the one hand, you know the Bible speaks about is appointed once for a man to die and then the judgment. And I’m kind of paraphrasing there. And then on the other hand, it speaks about some shall not see death, but shall be caught up, you know, Rapture – caught up in the air and shall not see death at all. So I mean, there appears to be, you know, a contradiction. And I just I’m seeking clarification in those two, um, stances.

Pastor Jim: [00:42:21] All right. That is such a great question. Sure. Appreciate your spirit there and that. So give us a moment and we’re going to come up with an answer for you. Thanks for calling.

Pastor Andy: [00:42:29]  No, I would say that’s a great question. He’s, um, uh, talking about, uh, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27, where it says it’s appointed for man to die once, then face the judgment. Well, we have some examples where there’s exceptions to the rule. Um, we can think, for example, of the Rapture, which he pointed out, where a whole generation of Christians won’t die. Um, we can think of, um, uh, those we can think of Lazarus. Who the Lord, I think it’s in John 11, brought out of the grave and resuscitated him. We would assume that he died again. He wasn’t in his resurrected body because Christ’s resurrection was the first fruits. Matthew 27 I think it is, uh, when Christ died, talks about in Jerusalem, some tombs opened up people got out of the tombs and started walking around that we presumed they died a second time. Um, uh, we think of Elijah, who’s, you know, life was cut short and didn’t die. Um, uh, same with Enoch, Genesis chapter 5. So I guess what I’m getting at is it’s a general rule that, yeah, you die once and you face the judgment, but it doesn’t mean that God can’t carve out exceptions to his own rule. Uh, there’s many examples where the rule, um, is deviated from, and it’s God’s prerogative to do that. And that’s what we call a miracle – when God deviates from the normal law that he has set up. And so that’s I would I would look at Hebrews 9, verse 27, not as a 100% thing, but as a general generic rule, which God throughout the Scripture carves out exceptions to for his own sovereign purposes.

Pastor Jim: [00:44:17] Amen and amen. All right. I’m going to give out those phone numbers one more time here. So, folks, if you’re in the local Houston area and you’d like to call in and give us your Bible question, you can call 832-922-4444. Again, that’s 832-922-4444. And if you’re outside the Houston area, please call toll free at 877-999-5422 877-999-5422. And again, you can always email your questions to Questions@KHCB.org. Okay. And let’s go back to our mail slot here. I’ve got one right here that says, well, we’ll do this one here. All right. So this says, “Doctor Woods, would you please repeat the name of your book which talks about 2nd Thessalonians”?

Pastor Andy: [00:45:17] Yeah, it’s a little booklet. You can read it in one sitting. I didn’t write it for scholars. I just wrote it for laypeople that don’t know you, that don’t know what the issues are and are sitting on the fence wondering what the controversy is. But it deals with the controversy of 2nd Thessalonians 2, verse 3, and it gives basically ten reasons why the proper understanding of that verse, apostasia is a physical departure from the earth synonym for the rapture, and the book is called The Falling Away. And you can find it very easily on, on Amazon or, you know, those kind of places.

Pastor Jim: [00:45:58] All right. Great. Thank you so much, Pastor. All right. I see now that the phones have lit up. So let’s go to our next caller. Thank you for waiting. What is your question for Doctor Woods this evening?

Caller: [00:46:10] Hello, sir. Good evening.  Uh, my question is, uh, when God created Adam in, in Genesis, he created him in Spirit. And then he formed him from the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils, and Adam became a living soul. That’s true?

Pastor Andy: [00:46:27] Yes, yes.

Caller: [00:46:28] Okay. Has he changed the way he does things?

Pastor Jim: [00:46:33] All right. That’s a good question. Uh, let’s see if we can give you a good Bible answer to that. Has God changed how he does things?

Pastor Andy: [00:46:40] Yes. Uh, what happened in Eden was unique. Uh, you have a human being formed. And then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That’s something God did for the first man. Obviously, that was unique because Adam never had to grow up, right? He was not a baby. He was not an infant. He was not conceived like, you know, we are conceived today. And so you can’t take the creation of Adam and say, God does that all the time, or else we’d all be born in our 20s and we wouldn’t have to go through the process of infancy and childhood and all of those kinds of things. So yes, that’s what happened in Genesis 2. But man becomes a living being at the point of conception. Psalm 51 and verse 11, David says, in sin did my mother and father conceive me? In other words, I received the sin nature passed down from Adam and his rebellion at the point of conception. So we believe life today, what’s normative begins at conception.  Genesis 25:23 God says, two nations are in your womb.  Okay, so the there’s life, uh, in the womb regarding the twins, what was that? Jacob and Esau, if I remember right?  Uh, uh, at the point of conception.  And so what happened in Genesis 2 is not obviously not normative throughout the eons of time.

Pastor Jim: [00:48:21] All right. I think that’s a great question and a great answer. I see we have someone waiting. So let’s go back to the phones. Thank you for calling the program. What’s your Bible question this evening?

Pastor Jim: [00:48:39] We’ve got you now.

Caller: [00:48:41] Okay. Uh, 9 and 27 Hebrews.  When he says this was appointed to man to die. Uh, can you be a little more clear on that for me? Because I was always taught and taught that, uh, we didn’t have to do it but one time.

Pastor Jim: [00:49:04] All right. Thank you for calling the program. And let’s see if we can restate maybe what we’ve said. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:49:09] Well it’s true. That’s a general rule.  Um, you die once and then you face the judgment. But that doesn’t mean there can’t be exceptions created by God the worker of miracles. In the prior when a prior caller called in, I think I listed maybe, I don’t know, three or 4 or 5 examples where people died twice. Lazarus died twice. The folks that came out of the graves in Revelation 11 died twice. Um, if Moses is one of the two witnesses Revelation 11, he will die twice. Um, so it’s a it’s a general rule, but there can be exceptions to it as created by God. Rare exceptions.

Pastor Jim: [00:49:53] Amen. All right, back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:49:58] Yes, Doctor Andy, um, uh, there are two verses. I’m looking at them now in Bible Gateway, Matthew 16:19 and Matthew 18:18. Now, um, I listened to you all the time. Whenever I have a chance and read my Bible through. These are two these two verses I have never, ever been able to figure out in my entire Christian life the bound in heaven and loosed and loosed in heaven, and then the bound in heaven and loosed on earth. Could you please explain that to me? Thank you.

Pastor Jim: [00:50:29] Thank you so very much for calling the program. Pastor?

Pastor Andy: [00:50:33] Well, these are and I really recommend the Matthew commentary by Doctor Stanley Toussaint entitled “Behold the King”. Uh, look at his verse by verse commentary, which you can find, you know, on Amazon or wherever. And, um, what you’ll discover is these are what are called paraphrastic, uh, perfect, perfect, perfect tense. And the proper understanding of this is, you can bind what already has been bound in heaven. Is the idea.  And so what Jesus is giving Peter the authority to do here in Matthew 16 is to declare what heaven has already declared.

Pastor Jim: [00:51:22] Exactly.

Pastor Andy: [00:51:23] And so in the context of this, he’s given the keys of the kingdom. Meaning what do you do with the key? You open a door. He’s going to open the doorway of the kingdom citizenship in the coming kingdom. Citizenship in the kingdom. The kingdom yet future to first of all, Jews. He does that in Acts 2. Secondly, to Gentiles, he does that in Acts 10.  And his authority comes from the Gospel, which is God’s Gospel. And he declares what heaven has already declared. That’s the power of the Gospel. If you if you declare a different message than what heaven is already declared, then you’re emptied of your power. And so that’s my understanding of, you know, this binding and loosing and all of these kinds of things. You’re, uh, you’re binding what has already been bound and you’re loosing what already has been loosed. In other words, your authority, uh, comes from the declaration of what God has already said concerning the Gospel. And as you declare it, you’re literally going to be open the doorways of future citizenship, uh, to the kingdom, to Jews, Acts to Gentiles. Acts ten and so it kind of works that way in Matthew 16. It also works that way in Matthew 18 when you exercise church discipline, uh, which is an unfortunate task local churches are supposed to be doing your authority in church discipline comes from declaring what heaven has already declared, what already has been declared in heaven.  So that’s my best understanding of those passages. And I really recommend Doctor Stanley Toussaint Matthew commentary, you know, as a more fuller explanation.

Pastor Jim: [00:53:11] Awesome Pastor, thank you so much for calling and asking that great question. And back to the phones we go. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:53:20] Hello. Thanks for taking my call. Um, I know as believers we are filled with the Holy Spirit. And I know that when we’re raptured, um, there’s the Holy Spirit still go with us. Or does – I know it talks about him being set aside? I’m just a little confused on that. We had a Bible study and people were split half and half. Some thought he stayed with us forever, and some thought that we don’t have the Holy Spirit when we go to heaven.

Pastor Jim: [00:53:52] Thank you so much for that great question. So, pastor, I know you have a great answer for her.

Pastor Andy: [00:53:58] Well, I have a great answer because Jesus has the great answer.  And if you take your Bible and go over to John, uh, 14. Verses 16 through 18, Jesus says, I will ask the father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever. That’s aionios. Right. Forever. That is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. But because it does not behold him or know him, but you know Him because he abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. So the Holy Spirit is inside the Christian forever. So what happens at the Rapture is his restraining ministry through the church ceases. That ministry of restraint ceases, and therefore the containers in which he indwells to perform that ministry will be raptured at that point as well.  And so yes, when you are raptured, you’ll have the Holy Spirit inside of you, just like you have him inside of you now, because forever means forever.  His ministries may change on the earth, but not his indwelling of the child of God.

Pastor Jim: [00:55:18] Yeah, and don’t you cover this somewhat in your Thessalonian series?

Pastor Andy: [00:55:22] Do I do cover this? When we dealt with dealing with the lessons in 2nd Thessalonians 2:6 and 7, several lessons on that.

Pastor Jim: [00:55:30] So we encourage you to go out to the Sugar Land Bible Church website, to the sermon archives, and you can find some excellent teaching there on that. Thank you again for calling. We do appreciate that. And back to the phones. Thank you for waiting. What is your Bible question this evening?

Caller: [00:55:46] Yes. The question is this. You were mentioning carnal Christians? Yes. Uh, imagine an extreme case. Uh, uh, a guy that, uh, believes in Jesus Christ but has a lifestyle like a homosexual. So, can such a person. Uh, because there is that passage by Paul himself in Corinthians that says that, you know, liars and, uh, robbers and homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. But if he is saved and he is living in sin, uh. And that list is extensive. So how they can be saved if they are not going to, uh, be in the kingdom or inherit the kingdom. So is it possible for a born-again person not to be in the kingdom? Is that a less of a loss of rewards? And there is that passage in Revelation also that that says that, uh, these people that were sealed in that condition, they are gone from God.

Pastor Jim: [00:57:14] All right. That is a great question. And, uh, thank you for calling the program. If you want to go ahead and hang up, we’ll give you a good answer here. Thank you.

Pastor Andy: [00:57:23] Well, you know what he’s talking about. There are the so-called vice lists. Um, there’s one. And he mentioned, uh, 1st Corinthians 6. There’s another one. I think in Galatians 5, I want to say there’s one in, uh, Ephesians 5 and there’s a couple in Revelation, 1 in Revelation 21 and 22. But notice what Paul is saying here in 1st Corinthians 6. He says, do you not know that the unrighteous, well, who are the unrighteous? Um, if you go back to verse 1, he says, does anyone of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints see that? So the unrighteous is unsaved people.

Pastor Jim: [00:58:13] Right.

Pastor Andy: [00:58:14] And what Paul is saying is, why in the world would you ever, as a Christian, imitate an unsaved person when your destiny as a Christian is completely different than theirs? They’re not going into the kingdom, but you are. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers will inherit, uh, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. As such some of you were. So it’s kind of interesting when you look at the pronouns here. He switches from you, the second person to them, or in this case, the unrighteous, who are unbelievers. So he’s not saying, oh my goodness, a Christian over there is struggling with homosexuality. Their salvation is in doubt. That’s not what he’s talking about. What he’s saying is, why would you go back to sin as a Christian? But all you’re doing is imitating unsaved. He switches from you to they – second person to third person. And when you when you do that, you’re imitating people that don’t even have the same destiny as you.  So, you know, we need to understand these vice lists. You know, I think we need to understand very, very carefully. And so there is a reality of a backslidden Christian, and there is a reality of a carnal Christian.

Pastor Andy: [00:59:49] And, um, if someone is saved and yet goes back to homosexuality, um, that if they really were saved, uh, it does it doesn’t give us grounds to say, well, they’re going to hell.  Because 2nd Timothy 2:13 says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. We got into the door via grace.  And so what keeps us is God’s grace. And so, you know, people always ask this question, what about the guy that says he’s saved and doesn’t have fruit and all these kinds of things? Well, that could mean he was never saved to begin with. That’s a possibility. I’m open to that. But it also could mean he’s in a back-slidden carnal state, you know, like Lot and I don’t I don’t bring in the, the vice list because the, the homosexuals in the vice lists is talking about unsaved people. It’s not dealing with someone who’s saved and then backslides into sin.  Um, there’s a really good article I recommend to you, um, uh, on this subject, it’s by Dennis Rokser, and it deals with these different vice lists. And unfortunately, I’m trying to pull it up and I can’t find the name that I’m looking for, but, um, you know, maybe if we have enough time at the end, I can try to pull that out for you.

Pastor Jim: [01:01:13] All right. Well, thank you for calling the program, and we hope that was somewhat helpful to you. I see that we’ve come to the end of our show, so we’re going to have to say good night. But listen, thank you so much for calling the program. Thank you for your participation. Thank you for your wonderful questions. Pray for us. We’re praying for you and we’ll see you next time on KHCB’s Question and Answer program. Good night.